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darumin
25 Jul 2021

  • Japanese
  • English (US)
  • French (France)
  • Swedish
Question about English (US)

Why is that sentence wrong?→
"She HAD lived in San Francisco for several years when she was a child."
And why is the next sentence correct?
We HAD BEEN married for four years when our baby was born.

I guess that in the latter one, "when our baby was born" means an event happening at just one point in time, and "we HAD BEEN MARRIED for... etc" .
but maybe in the former one, "when she was a child" has some range of time, so i can't use "HAD LIVED.


Is my assumption correct?

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Arekck
25 Jul 2021

  • English (US)

Well, the first one should rather be" She lived in San Francisco for several years when she was a child". Had is not necessary as it would imply something had been going on for some time before something else happened, as in: Before she turned 10 she had been living in San Francisco for seven years.

EDIT: However I must add: Before she turned 10 she was living in San Francisco for seven years also sounds natural

darumin
25 Jul 2021

  • Japanese
@Arekck thanks for your reply and another interesting example😄

"Before she turned 10~" is correct, but "when she was 10, she had lived in San Francisco for several years." doesn't sound natural, is it right?🤔
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Arekck
25 Jul 2021

  • English (US)

Well, both "before she turned 10" and "when she was 10" make it possible to use had lived/had been living, however in your example "when she was a child" I wouldn't use had.

These are correct:
Before she turned 10 she had already been living in San Francisco for seven years.
When she was 10 she had already been living in San Francisco for seven years.

However this one's incorrect:
When she was a child she had already been living in San Francisco for seven years.

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Why is that sentence wrong?→ "She HAD lived in San Francisco for several years when she was a child." And why is the next sentence correct? We HAD BEEN married for four years when our baby was born. I guess that in the latter one, "when our baby was born" means an event happening at just one point in time, and "we HAD BEEN MARRIED for... etc" . but maybe in the former one, "when she was a child" has some range of time, so i can't use "HAD LIVED. Is my assumption correct?
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